World's End
by Butch-Connor
Summary: The star's are blinking out one by one, Riku is gone, and Sora has lost the ability to wield the keyblade. What will happen when it is Destiny Islands turn?
1. Blinking away

The kids were standing on the endless shore. They were staring into the sky,staring at the gleaming stars. The stars were blinking out at a rapid pace. One star every minute. Sixty friends every hour. The residue slowly drifted onto the banks of the ocean. Kairi walked up to Sora and grabbed his arm. "What's happening?" she softly asked.  
"I…I don't know." he whispered back, "But everything seems colder." Kairi bent down and picked up some of the white remains sticking to the ground.  
"Is there anyway this could happen to us and our world? Is this our fate? To just be grinded up into a cold, white powder?"  
"Of course not! I won't let anything harm you!" Sora gave her a heart-warming smile. She grinned back. While they were staring at each other in love, Wakka pelted Sora in the arm and then the head with a ball of the white debris. "What was that for Wakka! You know my arm is messed up!"  
"C'mon! Lighten up and have some fun! You haven't done anything since you've been back from wherever you went!" Wakka shouted.  
"Fine! We'll have it your way! Just be warned that I'm not that easy to beat!"  
"We'll see about that when your face is filled with it!"  
"Bring it on!" Wakka made some more balls and threw them at Sora. Sora rolled out of the way and threw some of his own at Wakka, but accidentally hit Tidus. Now all three of the boys were playing the game.  
Kairi began to walk off. She had never been the one to play rough with them…that was Riku's job. But there was no Riku to take this role on the island anymore. It was like a piece of her heart died with him. She didn't see him die, but it seemed peaceful by the way Sora stated it. Riku is surely in a better place now. A less darkened place. A place with no absence of light. Riku was conquered by the darkness and his life was his consequence. Sora found him in just enough time to hear his last words. "It isn't over."  
Kairi turned around to look at then boys and then she whispered to herself something. No one heard her; she only barely heard it herself. It was something she was wanting to say forever. 

"I miss you Riku. I would give _anything_ for you to come back."


	2. Dreams of him

Sora was running down an outstretched, rocky path. He tripped and sliced his arm open. There was no time to heal it though. Time was running out. He pushed himself even harder through the narrow and dark valley. He finally saw the cliff at the end. He abruptly stopped himself from running off. He scurried to the ground and looked into the dark abyss. There hanging on the cliff was a friend, crying out for help to Sora. Sora remained there in silence…fear surpassing all other feelings. The other boy cried out for more help. His fingers slipped as he fell, but luckily Sora finally over came his nerves. He caught the boy by the wrist.  
"I've got you!" Sora shouted.  
"I know you do!" Blood from the earlierslash to the armflowed down Sora's arm and dripped onto the others boy's face.The arm began to ache. The boy was slipping.  
"I…won't let you go!" Sora dug his nails into the other boy's hand from the strength of his grip. The nails began to leaves blood streaks along the boy's hand as he was slipping away.  
"Don't let me go"  
"Cross my heart and swear to die!" Sora put his other hand down there to try and grab the boy's wrist, but it kept on slipping on the blood. Finally, gravity took full effect as Sora lost his grip and left long strips of torn flesh on the other's hand. The other child disappeared into the abyss. Sora sat back, crying. He looked at his blood filled hands. He couldn't believe it.  
_Sora_. He moved his head around to try to find the voice. _Sora!_ Sora put his head down, closed his eyes, and then rubbed them with his hands. He heard the voice say his name one more time. He awakened his eyes to see the gleaming sun shining in his face. "Sora!"  
"Kairi. Wha-What happened"  
"You fell asleep dummy!" Sora sat up.  
"Oh…right." He stood up and looked at his hands, at his nails. _It wasn't a dream. I know it wasn't. It was real!  
_"Sora? Are you okay"  
"Yeah. I'll be fine"  
"Okay. If you say so." Kairi began to walk off.  
"…_Riku_." Sora whispered. 


	3. truth in a secret place

"Do you think that white stuff will come back? I miss it." Kairi asked Sora. They were sitting alone in the secret place. Sora wrapped his arm around.  
"If there is one thing I learned when I went to other worlds, it was that you should never be stuck in the past. If you do," Sora looked at his other arm, "it might hurt you." Kairi caught Sora staring at his arm. Once he realized that she noticed he quickly glanced at her and smiled, but Kairi wasn't going tofall for his fake smile.  
"You never told me what happened to your arm."  
"Oh, its nothing. It just got hit a couple of times too many!"  
"Then why is there a long scar on your arm!" Kairi took her hand and felt it.  
"I-I just had an accident!" Sora flung his arm back. "It's nothing!"  
"No! It is something! If we are to be in a relationship then we should care for and trust each other!"  
"You really want to know!"  
"Yes, Sora! I do! That scar can't be your burden alone! Especially one so deep!"  
"It was Riku!" The outburst took Kairi by surprise.  
"Ri…Riku? What do you mean?"  
"It was while we were gone…" Sora proceeded to tell Kairi the truth about Riku's death. He told about how he was hanging there and how Sora tried to help him and how Riku met a tragic end. He told her everything, everything but his dreams about the dreadful past. When it was all over, Kairi hugged Sora as hard as she could.  
"I…I don't get why you would keep that from us." she replied.  
"I couldn't deal with it myself." Kairi buried her face into Sora's shoulder.  
"I can't believe..."  
"...Neither could I"  
"…Riku…"

The two stayed clinging to each other for hours, or maybe just minutes. They couldn't keep up with time anymore. Just when Sora was about to kiss her on her forehead, a great tremor shook them both. Boulders began to fall down from the ceiling. Sora ran. Kairi just stood there.  
Sora turned around to see her there "Kairi! C'mon! What are you doing!" She didn't reply. Sora ran back, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out of the secret place. When they were away enough to not get hurt, Sora looked at Kairi, only now realizingthe missing compassion in her eyes.  
"I'm…I'm sorry. I'm still shaky about what happened to Riku."  
"Don't be. No one got hurt!" Kairi looked up and smiled at Sora, and then she realized that there was a blood stain on Sora's shirt.  
"Sora! You're hurt!" Kairi pointed to the blood stain.  
"It's just a scratch!" Sora tried to hide the injury.  
"No it isn't!"  
"Yes it is! It's not like I'm gonna die from it! I'm just not used to not having the keyblade for protection like before..."  
"…Before Riku died."  
Then they heard something from an eerie voice behind them that made a chill go up their spines.

_"It's nice to know that you guys still remember my name…"_


	4. one more nightmare

"Riku!" Sora shouted.  
"Yes?" he replied. He was wearing a dark cloak with the hood up and he kept his hands in his pockets. Sora ran up to Riku and tried to hug him, but Riku moved out of the way. Sora turned around so he could see his old friend.  
"You're back! What took you so long!"  
"What? You didn't like my homecoming gift? I figured snow on an island would be a nice present!"  
"Snow? What's snow?"  
"The white stuff that came from the sky. I saw it in one of the first worlds I went to." Riku gave a sadistic laugh. "You like it?"  
"Yeah! It's fun!" Sora placed his face a few inches away from Riku's. "Hey Riku, why are you wearing an organization cloak?"  
"I would tell you, but I must be leaving now." Riku opened up a portal of darkness behind him.  
""But Riku! You just got back here!" Riku gave a ear to ear grin to Sora.  
"Till we meet again!" He stepped through it. "Was that really Riku?" Kairi asked.  
"Yeah. I could tell. I'm completely sure that is Riku! I know that stance!"  
"I wasn't asking about the body…I mean the soul. Was it Riku's? He seemed so much darker." Sora looked at Kairi with a perplexed face.  
"Of course it was! Who else could it be?"  
"I don't know. Maybe it's not him, but me. I just haven't been thinking straight lately."  
"I know. Neither have I." The two walked off to their houses, hand in hand.

Sora was running down an outstretched, rocky path. He tripped and sliced his arm open. There was no time to heal it though.Time was running out. He pushed himself even harder through the narrow and dark valley. He finally saw the cliff at the end. He abruptly stopped himself from running off. He scurried to the ground and looked down into the dark abyss. There hanging on the cliff was Riku in a black cloak, crying out for help to Sora. Sora, no longer held back by fear, threw his hand out to help Riku up. Riku's hand grabbed Sora's wrist. Riku pulled his face in front of Sora's and pulled back the hood to reveal a sliced and ravished face. He put his mouth next to Sora's ear and whispered four words, "You swore to die." Riku threw Sora into the dark abyss.  
Sora opened his eyes screaming. He was covered in sweat. "It was a nightmare! Just a nightmare!"  
"Or was it?" Sora shifted his head to the voice.  
"Riku! What are you doing here?"  
"I heard you screaming. I came to check up on you." The images from the dream still burned in Sora's memory.  
"Is that the only reason?" Sora was beginning to worry.  
"Yeah." Riku's reply made Sora feel more relaxed. "Except…" Riku came up to Sora and punched him in the face, instantly knocking him out. "…that."


	5. eyes of the beholder

Sora woke up with pain all throughout his head. He looked up and saw that he was in the secret place. He tried to walk, but he couldn't. He looked down and noticed that he was held to the wall by darkness. He looked towards his arms and saw the same thing.  
"It's about time you woke up." It was Riku. Sora turned his head to face the boy. Again, he had his hands in his pockets.  
"This is just a joke, right?" Riku seemed like he did not hear. "Right?" Sora stated louder than before.  
"Was it a joke when you let me die?"  
"No, but you turned out fine! You're right here, nice and safe!"  
"No, nothing came out fine!" Riku took off the hood for the first time since he was back. "Look at me!" At first Sora looked away, fearing he would look like the dream Riku, but then curiosity took effect as Sora looked. Riku looked like the Riku that Sora always knew.  
"I don't get it! You look the same as before!"  
"Look closer!" Riku put his face right up in front of Sora's, just like in the dream. Sora looked all over the face, but saw nothing. Then he saw it.  
"Your…Your..."  
"Yes. My eyes. There is nothing inside of them. No hate, no love, no greed, no delight. I have no feelings or emotions anymore. I am a nobody…a nobody that was created on that night you let me fall!"  
"Riku, I'm...I'm sorry."  
"Sorry?" Riku gave a menacing laugh. "It's too late for that. Much too late!"  
"What are you going to do? "I guess I could start now if you want to." Riku walked up to Sora. He finally took his hands out of his pockets, revealing long, dirty nails. He put his hand in front of Sora. "You see these marks on my fingers! Those are your marks, and now my nails will mark you!"  
"Mark me? How? What are you talking abou?t"  
"Crossed your heart…" Riku took his pointer finger from his flesh torn hand and he cut a diagonal on the skin covering Sora's heart.  
"Riku! Stop! I thoughtnobodies couldn't feel vengeance!"  
"Oh Sora, this is about so much more than vengeance!" He made the second diagonal, making a cross. The lunatic Riku licked the dripping blood off of his nail. Sora suddenly began to scream for help. "There is no point of doing that. You'll just waste your energy because the boulders trap in all noises." Sora stopped to look at him. Riku gave a glare back. He took something out of his pocket. It was a lighter.  
"What's that!"  
"Why should you care!"  
"What are you gong to do with that!"  
"…And you swore to die." Riku threw the lighter onto Sora. It engulfed him in flames as Riku opened up a portal and stepped through it. The last thing Sora heard before Riku stepped through was "It's not over…It's never over." and the last thing Riku heard before he went into it was Sora's screams of agony. 


	6. lighter in the dark

"Riku?"  
"Yes Kairi?"  
"Are you ready to go yet?"  
"Almost. You still haven't told me where we are going yet."  
"I told you, it's a secret! Or it is unless we are late because you have to do your nails!"  
"I always clean and cut my nails! I don't like long and dirty nails!"  
"Well hurry up with them!"  
"Why don't you go play with Sora while I'm doing them?"  
"You know that he had to go on another journey with Goofy and Donald," Kairi said in a more depressed voice.  
"Oh yeah. Sorry." Riku stood up, "Well, I'm done now! Now let's go!"  
"Finally!" The two laughed and walked out of Riku's house.  
"So where are we going?"  
"Do you really need to know?"  
"I'd like to."  
"We are going to the secret place! Wakka and Tidus are almost done removing the boulders!" The news put Riku in a shocked state. "Riku? Are you alright?"  
"Uh…yeah. I just need to go to the bathroom! Go on without me while I go!"  
"Okay…if you say so." Riku ran back into his house. He peered through his window to make sure that Kairi was still going on. He didn't see her. He opened up a portal of darkness and went through it. On the other side was the secret place. He looked around until he saw a burnt body hanging to the wall. He ran over to it and sat down on his knees. He moved his hands through piles of ash.  
"Where is that lighter!" Riku knew that he was the only one on the island that owned that type of lighter…or any lighter. He should have came back for it sooner. He saw a crack of light come from the normal entrance. Then, the whole wall of rocks fell. "Found it!" He picked it up.  
"Wakka! I think there is someone else here!" Riku turned to face Tidus and then ran off. "Stop!" Tidus followed Riku, but ran into the wall. The portal Riku went through disappeared just in time to not allow anyone else to go through. "What was that?..."  
"Hey Tidus! We got some company!" It was Wakka yelling for him. Tidus ignored Wakka as Wakka walked in. "Did you hear me? Kairi is here." Tidus was still looking at the corpse on the wall. His back was to Wakka and Kairi. "Tidus! Say something!"  
"Get Kairi out of here."  
"What? Why?" Wakka pulled Tidus around so that he could see his face. He noticed Sora's corpse on the wall. "Oh…my god!" "What is it?" Kairi asked. She shoved her head in front of Wakka. She found the lifeless object in seconds. She gave a high pitch scream. Tears began to streak her face. "What did this!" She could barely get the words out with all of her tears.  
"What could do this!" Wakka questioned.  
"I think I know what did, but not who." Tidus answered.  
"Who?" Kairi replied. Tidus turned around and told the two about his discovery of another being inside the secret place when the boulders were removed. "Do you guys have any idea what, or who, you think could have done this?" Tidus asked.  
"Oh no. It couldn't have been…" Kairi whispered.  
"Couldn't have been what?" "Uh…nothing. I have to go now!" Kairi ran off. Tidus seemed to get worried.  
"Well…" Wakka continued, "I think I know what it was"  
"And what might that be"  
"It was might have been Riku! He and Sora have always been in competitions, maybe this one just got out of hand!"  
"Then how did he get out genius?"  
"I don't know. I just have been having a bad feeling about Riku lately."  
"Dumb theories like those should be kept to yourself." 


	7. expired lies

Riku was running along the beach towards Kairi. She was slowly walking the other way with her head looking up to the sky. He was almost breathless when he reached her. "What are you looking at?" he asked.  
"The sky. I wish it would snow again. It reminds me of Sora. Everything does."  
"I can make it snow again if you think it is fun to play in."  
"No, I don't want the snow to play in. I want it to make me think of the good times with Sora." She could not hold in her emotions anymore as she fell into Riku's arms crying.  
"What's wrong? Sora will come back eventually."  
"No he won't."  
"Why do you say that! What happened!" Kairi looked into Riku's lifeless eyes and moved back, out of Riku's arms.  
"Tell me its not true!" Riku put his head back in surprise.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Tidus told me and Wakka about what he saw in the secret place! Only one person on these islands can make portals of darkness!"  
"Whose do say it wasn't an outsider? Don't you remember when the Organization did things like that?"  
"Stop lying Riku! Just stop lying and tell the truth for once! Just for once…" Riku looked at her and put his head down.  
"I'm…I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"  
"Only if you answer my questions."  
"Okay."  
"Why is there nothing in your eyes?" Riku took a second to decide whether he should actually tell her the truth or not. "Remember, the truth."  
"It happened on the night when Sora let me fall into the canyon. Darkness overcame me. I lost my heart and a heartless was created…as well as a nobody. I am that nobody."  
"So you never really cared about coming back or making me feel better after that night?"  
"I didn't…but I can make everything better! The Organization was completely wrong about how to become completely human again! I know the real way! The way that really works! I don't need Kingdom Hearts at all! To really become human, you must have a person give you their heart, have a person love you!"  
"So why did you kill Sora!"  
"I'm…I'm sorry you had to find out, but I had to do it/"  
"BUT why?"  
"You loved him and he loved you. It was clear from a mile away. How could you give me your heart when he already had it?"  
"So you think killing him would make me love you!"  
"I am a nobody. I think on logic, reason, and observation."  
"So whatwasyour next step in the plan?"  
"After you fell in love with me, we were to leave this world and all of it's inhabitants."  
"So that they could not tell me of Sora's death..."  
"…And because this world is to expire in a few weeks."  
"Expire?"  
"The world's are blinking out at a rapid pace if you haven't noticed. Something about them is causing them to disappear."  
"So you want to live out the rest of your life than die with your friends?"  
"It is the most logical way to be with the one you love, or loved in my case, for the longest you could."  
"Well…I don't want to be part of this plan! I couldn't live with that guilt. I still feel it unlike you."  
"Fine. If that's the way you want it to be." Riku turned around and made a portal of darkness. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused for all of you."  
"No.You're not. And you never will." Riku gave a chuckle.  
"I guess you're right." He walked through the portal. 


	8. blinking away together

Kairi turned around to look at the boys and then she whispered to herself something. No one heard her; she only barely heard it herself. It was something she was wanting to say forever. 

"I miss you Riku. I would give anything for you to come back."

"It's going to be okay Kairi. I promise." Kairi looked over to see Sora trying to comfort her. He must have overheard.  
"Thanks."  
"It's no problem. It's just a feeling that I have, that we will all live out the rest of our lives in peace and that everything will be fine."  
"What would you do if you only had one day to live?" Sora blushed.  
"I…I would love you as hard as I could. I would give you_ anything_ you wanted to have. I would tell you _anything_ you wanted to hear." Kairi blushed from Sora's compliments. "What would you do?" Kairi went into Sora's arms and gave him on kiss.  
"I would do that. And you don't need to tell me anything because your thoughts are good enough; you don't need to give me anything because you being here is the best gift of all, and you don't need to love me as hard as you can because I already know how much you do."  
"What if I wanted to?"  
"Then give me another kiss and tell me how you loved it from such a beautiful women!" They laughed.  
"It would be my pleasure." Sora held Kairi and kissed her on her lips. The beaches in the background were being torn away from the world. The water became like a tornado as itwasbeing suckedinto the sky. The trees burnt to ash with no fire. Wakka and Tidus were becoming millions of molecules, front first, as they raced. Their molecules blew in the wind that used to be going against them. Sora stopped the kiss and looked down. His feet and Kairi's were dissolving as well.  
"Don't worry. It'll be fine."  
"I love you"  
"I love you also." They two hugged as they completely dissolved.

* * *

No one could see the boy. He was standing on top of a gigantic building. He was looking into the night sky as a star went out. "You died the way you wanted to, but I never will. I will never love or be loved. I am heartless but not truly darkness. I am a nobody with a body only. I will never die with a friend...but at least I could make it so that you would die with your loved one. At least one good deed as this monster." He looked down the building's side. "This world reminds me of The World That Never Was. Maybe I'm not the only heartless one out there." He walked down the flight of stairs in the inside of the tall building. He walked down the streets with his silver hair flowing in the wind. He came into an alley. A man came up from the shadows and pulled out a gun. "Give me your money!" the man shouted. The boy ignored him. "Now!" The man pulled the trigger as the bullet came out; the boy caught it with ease. The last thing the boy heard before he killed and mangled was one screech. He finally said, "I think Earth might be fun…" 


End file.
